David Martin Graff
Captain
Flight distance : 84805085 ft
United States
Offline
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DJI Batteries tend to become swollen during their early charge cycles, when the cells are most combustive whereas the longer the battery is in age, the less likely the battery will explode or burst. I live in Phoenix, Arizona where the weather this week for the high is 115 degrees fahrenheit. I have the DJI Spark, Mavic Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom and do not fly my drones when the temperature is above the 104 degree fahrenheit DJI requisite top temperature for operation. With that said, three of my Mavic Pro batteries became swollen, in fact I had an incident in May of this year when my Mavic Pro was landing and my RC lost complete control over the Mavic when upon landing it crashed several houses down the road. I checked the DJII GO 4 Application for the drone's last whereabouts and performed an extensive search and rescue around my local neighborhood as all my neighbors helped me look (we have a really supportive community of people in my neighborhood and I fly out of my backyard all the time and nobody minds or has drawn any issue) but no avail.
I informed DJI about the incident that the Mavic Pro couldn't be located. Unfortunately when they did the data analysis, no error or warnings showed up so they blamed me with pilot error. I explained to DJI that the flight plan the Mavic Pro had crashed had been a flight plan I performed the most of any of my 1,300 flights and that I did not do anything differently that I had done during all my many successful flights and landings, this time I didn't know what the reason for the crash but I explained to DJI it really couldn't have been my fault? Time went by and I performed my last search & rescue attempt, this time having the Spark go up and look for the Mavic. Well, below the Spark spotted something and law and behold: The Mavic Pro. I had my last DJI Care Refresh+ that was used when I shipped back the drone to DJI, however the battery that was next to the Mavic Pro had swollen badly and this was likely the reason why the drone crashed. The battery likely dislodged and popped out of the Mavic on its way down seconds before cutting power to the flight controller which is why my radio couldn't establish a connection and seconds later the battery ejected and the Mavic's motors were cut and the drone fell right beside the battery on to my neighbor's roof in a spot only a drone could locate, which is why I couldn't find the Mavic in the first place but DJI was adamant not to attribute the incident to product error. Strangely, the Mavic Pro battery was brand new and DJI had just shipped it, and there was no more than 3 charges on the battery when it ejected and caused the accident. DJI received the battery and tested it and came to the conclusion it was a warranty issue and the battery was replaced free of charge. Strangely, I had to pay the $79 DJI Care Refresh+ for the Mavic Pro replacement when in fact DJI concluded the battery had become swollen severely deciding that the battery should have performed under the weather subjected to it, however it was flown on my crashed Mavic Pro that I had to lose my last replacement for a crash not truly should have been deemed as pilot error. The replacement battery and Mavic Pro I flew just last month during the day when it was around 102-104 degrees fahrenheit and sunny likely the top of the highest range for operating temperature DJI warrants. I flew the Mavic for 23 minutes and when it landed and I powered it off the new battery inside the Mavic had become swollen severely and luckily it didn't dislodge and eject from the aircraft. In addition, the replaced Mavic Pro that I paid $79, and had my only replacement, under DJI Care Refresh+ to be without any more replacements and the returned Mavic Pro would be my final Mavic that I would own for the remainder. This Mavic Pro the gimbal out of the box upon arrival failed to initialize properly as it banged into the upper support bracket behind the gimbal, in addition I experienced a fraction in range on that Mavic Pro compared to the Mavic Pro that had crashed due to the battery ejecting.
I shipped out that Mavic Pro and battery to DJI. The battery was replaced by DJI again under the warranty free of charge, and the Mavic is arriving tomorrow to DJI where I suspect they'll replace and return me a new Mavic Pro that should be commensurate with how a Mavic Pro operates and performs, as the preceding Mavic failed to live up to those standards....Additionally the story gets more aggravating, I recently purchased my Mavic 2 Zoom and wouldn't you know the battery became swollen and cost me a restocking fee when I returned it to the store within the 15 day return policy for a new Mavic 2 Zoom (which I am not flying until the weather cools down). DJI was going to replace that battery of the Mavic 2 Zoom supposedly free of charge, however the battery went back to the store and a replacement was provided, yet I had to absorb 15% of the purchase price, or $1,249.99 + tax multiplied by .15% less credited back because the store does not cover swollen batteries. Do you think it is fair of me to expect DJI to replace that Mavic 2 Zoom battery even though the battery was returned to the store, given my restocking fee costs more than a battery for the Mavic 2 and I was inconvenienced for several weeks, my drone paperwork is a mess now that I have to transfer my DJI Care Refresh from that first drone to the new drone. I will report back to everyone what happens. |
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